


Of Fandoms, Chemistry, and a Bit of Frolicking

by AnHeiressofaSOLDIER



Category: Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Humor, One-Shot, Randomness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 16:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4106977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnHeiressofaSOLDIER/pseuds/AnHeiressofaSOLDIER
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A random story about Christine and Raoul being dorks in modern day high school: what more could anyone possibly need? In which Raoul is completely obsessed with Kingdom Hearts II, Christine can't remember the term "Polyatomic Ion" for the life of her, and the two of them sharing nervous ticks together is definitely a thing. Humor, fluff, one-shot. R/C.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Fandoms, Chemistry, and a Bit of Frolicking

Christine really didn't know what Raoul was doing.

They'd come to school, yes—that was something that one did every week day, after all, and something they very commonly did  _together_ —but he seemed to be holed up in their history teacher's room, talking about  _something_.

Standing on her tiptoes, and trying to peer into the room to see what was taking her boyfriend, Christine wondered if maybe he'd left something in the room over the weekend, and was now trying to retrieve it before class?

It certainly wouldn't have been the first time that had happened…

But if that was really all that it was, why hadn't he come back out yet?

And even stranger: why did Raoul seem to be  _smiling_  when talking with their professor?

Call her crazy, but Christine really couldn't get her head around the idea of  _that_  at all.

In her experience, talking about grades never gave off any sort of joy for anyone.

And even when she was doing exceptionally well in her classes, there was always the premise—when talking to one's teacher—that you should be doing better.

And that even if you  _had_  a four-point-zero GPA, you should still be striving to get extra credit, or some such nonsense.

Really, the whole thing was just beyond stressful to Christine, and also the reason she catered more towards clubs and the extra curricular activities when it came to school.

Finally, just as Christine was worried that Raoul might be late to class and get detention if he didn't hurry up, he emerged from the classroom—shaking the hands with Mr. Zackiah as he did so—with a certain book held tight between his hand and chest.

Sighing resignedly, Christine thought she probably should've known what this was all about.

Yep, it was his "Kingdom Hearts II Strategy Guide" all right.

Gingerly taking his arm under her own, and beginning to walk away—and Christine would admit to herself that she was doing this more for her own benefit than for Raoul's, as she had a bad habit of crashing into people in the hall, if her dear boyfriend weren't there to guide her—Christine said, surprisingly flippantly, "Raoul, are you still obsessing over that new video game of yours, and this whole 'Nobody' concept in it?"

And the look of joy that appeared on Raoul's face was more than enough to affirm Christine's suspicions, and thus she sighed good-naturedly.

Perhaps she  _could_  have knocked on wood to prevent this, Christine supposed.

But truthfully? She enjoyed seeing Raoul so enamored with something.

And him being obsessed, with a romance that could never work in canon, just seemed to make him all the more adorable in her book.

"Quite right you are, Christine," Raoul practically beamed, as he gently pulled her closer to his side, but only so he could bump his shoulder into her own humorously.

Christine, of course, responded with a laugh—and also unconsciously curved her fingers into an arch, so that she would be even quicker in opening her locker when she got to it.

"It's just that these two poor souls—and quite literally, in fact—came into existence with no hearts: no emotions, as it were. And they're only mere fragments of other beings: doomed to die from their creation, and always told that they never should have existed in the first place, and yet… they find love in each other, all the same… Even  _if_  it's just a farce come to light through their true selves' own feelings.

"And having just talked to Mr. Zackiah about this—much my own fault, for having left my book in his room, I'll admit—it turns out that he's  _also_ played the game, and feels much the same way."

"Aww, that's great news, Raoul! I'm so happy for you! I might not always like to crowd myself around my teachers, but ones you can make a sort of camaraderie with are always quite nice. Congratulations!"

In all actuality, Christine had never really given much stock to video games before:

She'd just thought them a sordid affair of button mashing, but if a story like  _this_  could exist within one of them—the first one that Raoul had ever played, even—then perhaps she'd been knocking them too harshly, without even understanding the true facts about them.

In fact, this convoluted tale that Raoul was currently spinning reminded Christine quite a lot of the "Harry Potter" books she'd had read to her when she was a child.

And though her taste usually went towards the lighter things, she'd admit to loving that children's series well enough…

Even if she did like to pretend that certain aspects of the last book hadn't happened.

So if Raoul could find his own sort of "Harry Potter" fandom, and even some friendship there, then who was she to begrudge him that?

Christine thought this all the while she wondering if maybe she should find some new stories to invest in  _herself_.

And now, having finally coming up on her locker, Christine found herself twirling the correct numbers into focus before she was really even aware of it. Muscle memory was  _such_  an interesting thing.

And as Christine did her endeavor—almost knocking off the dry erase board someone had been to kind to get her, as the door finally swung open—she expected to find Raoul over the moon, in hearing her defend his new favorite narrative for him.

Instead what Christine found on him, though, was a wry look, as well as a chuckle from the man she loved, as he literally kept one foot in the door to his intended classroom and another right beside her.

"Oh, Christine. You're so sweet, little Lotte. But you don't have to lie to me about your dislike for 'tragic pairings', you know? I'm a big boy. I can take it. In fact, now I sort of even regret bringing this whole thing up…"

And goodness, Raoul looked so  _serious_  and such the boy scout as he said this, that Christine couldn't resist the urge to begin laughing hysterically—tears dotting her eyes—as she wondered how someone could ever take their fictional obsessions so seriously.

She wouldn't have it any other way, though.

And if nothing else, it was a welcome distraction from the hideously colored locker door—blue and gold mixed together all too weirdly—that Christine had always hated so much.

"Dearest Raoul, it's not so much that I have a thing against 'tragic pairings', as you say, but more this whole vampire craze lately. Tales such as that are a nasty affair in my opinion, it's true, but what bothers me most is the contradiction always found there:

"I just can't understand why these beings should only have  _two_  teeth to bite into people with, when having  _all_  of them like that… Well, I feel like it would make the stories much more gory, as they're no doubt intended to be. But if you like a couple that might be  _somewhat_ similar to that? Well, it's perfectly fine, in my book! But anyway, I've got to go now love, bye!"

And stopping to kiss him on the cheek just once, Christine quickly began running to the left—and towards the double doors that would take her to the Freshman wing, where her graphic design class lay—cursing her decision to where slippery high heels today.

…

The rest of Christine's day went by morbidly boring until lunch.

She had not a single class with Raoul in the morning—and though the brunette tried her best to be attentive in class, and to do as well as she possibly could there—she thus then found herself squeezing the stress ball she'd gotten during her proficiency tests in the sixth grade more than anything else.

Suffice to say, when lunchtime finally rolled around—a period that Christine thankfully  _did_ have with Raoul—she ended up leaving her English class in haste, only stopping once to get her Chemistry book.

And when she finally reached the open and spacious area on the most bottom part of the stairs, she then she charged into Raoul's arms as soon as she was able.

And Raoul, bless him, though as kind as ever—while holding onto Christine lightly, and placing silly little kisses onto her face—knew without much preamble what Christine was  _really_  on about…

And as Christine noted where Raoul's mind had taken him, she was quick to pout and turn to the defensive. "Don't give me that look, Raoul! It's not  _my_ fault that you're allergic to everything we use in Chemistry, thus making  _me_  do all the experiments. So… if I  _really_  need to copy all your notes and homework, is it really such a big thing?"

And though Christine mostly  _did_  feel this way about it all, it still didn't keep her from feeling bad that she was keeping her boyfriend away from his much needed lunch right now.

And so, she quickly dug out her wallet, and then headed toward the line to get him something—Raoul hot on her tail as she did so.

"Yes, love," Raoul started, as the two of them made their way up through the line, and towards the lunch lady who knew them so well, that she loved to tease them.

"But I also know for a fact, Christine, that you have study hall before lunch, and that you have a very sharp mind. So the  _real_  reason you need to copy my work is because you always lose your Polyatomic Ion sheet, but can never remember what the thing's called to get another one. So you just want to use my own right now, don't you?

"Not that I'm at all complaining," Raoul seemed quick to throw the last bit in, as he no doubt noticed the look that Christine was  _trying_  to give him, but was completely failing at.

The dark-skinned chef standing in front of them, Mrs. Golding, was quick to laugh at the lot of them.

Something that made Christine begin to stammer and look away, but on the inside she was laughing at Raoul's far too accurate deducing herself.

"Well, what can I say to that, Raoul? I mean, you've got me completely pegged about that annoying Ion thing. And I… I suppose that's part of the reason I love you… and also why I always get an orange juice bottle to drink—so that you can play with the cap when I'm done with it, like you so love to—instead of the hot chocolate that I'm really always eying down, yonder."

For a moment, Raoul looked baffled—as if he couldn't at all figure out what an orange juice cap had to do with their talks of chemistry.

But the lunch lady must have quickly worked out that she meant to trade him the O.J. for the science paper, because she quickly teased Christine with, "But you're not really one to talk about odd habits like that. Are you, Miss? I personally seem to recall you messing with a stress ball a lot of the time, I mean to say."

And blushing slightly for getting roasted by the  _cook's_  words, and not Raoul's, Christine could only nod and concede that that was, in fact, the truth.

And perhaps the weird gesture thing she shared with Raoul was just another reason they were a match made in heaven.

…

The rest of the lunch block passed by without much going on for Christine or for Raoul.

The both of them did work on Christine's homework together (though not during the nice and cute moment where they'd begun battling over the Polyatomic Ion sheet, nudging into each other as they did so), which was good…

But Christine still had to feel bad that he was taking away from the pizza he'd chosen in order to help her.

Raoul… was very much a guy, and Christine was well aware of how ravenous they could be, so this particular arrangement didn't seem fair to her: even if she  _was_  very thankful for her senior's help.

So at times, Christine would attempt to drag Raoul's chair closer to his food to get him to notice it again.

And that, she supposed, was all that she could hope for on that matter, seeing as Raoul could be  _way_  too self-sacrificing when he wanted to be.

Christine was a bit surprised, however, that whenever she asked him a question about their workload, he'd take up the nervous tick of spinning her orange bottle cap on the table.

It was almost as if hoping that when it did eventually land on her, that it would allow her to find her answer. Christine smiled at this.

And sometimes, that weird sort of magic Raoul seemed to be creating paid off: Christine would be hit with a certain realization about her AP subject, and then jot it down.

And she pointedly ignored the people on the other side of their table who were openly glaring at them.

It would have been one thing, Christine thought, if their peers were irritated at them for being noisy or annoying with their fidgeting.

But when Christine realized that the snooty photographers beside her were seemingly annoyed at the school books, study sheets, and homework that they had "sprawled out" across the table, she got very angry. It was  _only_  in her and Raoul's dinky section, for goodness sake!

Irritation warring its way into her throat, Christine found that she was about to tell these kids to stop getting upset about  _every_  little thing—and maybe she'd even sing her words to them, like she sometimes liked to—but she restrained herself from it: deciding instead to bite her lip and begin drumming out a beat on her lap.

And Raoul, seeming to have noticed her sudden mood change, was too quick to worry.

"Christine?" he asked, reaching his arm across the table, so as to put a reassuring hand atop her hand. "Are you well? Do you need to go outside? Or-"

"No, Raoul. I'm fine. Really, I am- Let's... let's just go to the pretzel stand, or something."

The pretzel stand, as it happened, was towards the very end of the cafeteria—to the east, and completely away from where they were both at now—and far too close to the smelly gymnasium for Christine's tastes, but it was a good enough escape that she didn't care.

More than anything... Christine needed to get away from the people that were somehow making her remember a time where a friend of hers had held a plastic fork in hand, wanting to stab and kill the people around her that were making fun of a boy.

While Christine still cared a lot for Giry—and honestly hoped that she was doing more than okay—she didn't need this sort of psychosis coming back to her now…

Or for anyone to remind her of it, either. So the sooner she got away from the photography club, the better, Christine decided then.

She wasn't so far gone, though, that she instantly forgot all of her books.

While Christine might have been selfish enough in the past—and sometimes lost in her own mind, as it were—to do such a thing, that didn't mean that she wanted to leave such a thing to her dutiful boyfriend  _now_.

So quickly gathering her things—and practically slamming her book shut, with the homework she no longer cared about within it—Christine inclined her head so that Raoul knew she still wanted to go the soft pretzel section, and she began leading him away.

After they finally made it over there—a certain club that Christine didn't know, selling rubber ducks for Valentine's Day right beside them—Raoul pulled her into his arms at once: something that Christine  _very_  much needed in the moment.

"Christine, what is it, sweetheart? Are you having bad memories again? Is that it? Do you want to talk about it at all?"

Christine's answer to this query was to shake her head, "no", the slightest bit against Raoul's chest, and to just relish in the feel of her lover's hand combing through her locks, calming and relaxing her.

This was... this was more than Christine could have ever hoped for before, and how  _grateful_  she was that Raoul was so amazing and accommodating to her.

She only wished that she weren't ruining their perfect day together now.

And… as it happened, Christine was now noticing too slow that Raoul had caught  _her_  own belongings from cluttering to the floor, when they had embraced, but only by sacrificing his own.

Would this man ever stop being so selfless, Christine wondered?

And there was very much a part of her that wanted to kiss Raoul's cheek just now, for his always thinking of her—even at the expense of himself—but another and louder said she just ought to lecture him some. And so she did:

"Raoul, you can't always put my needs first!" Christine chastised, immediately surprising herself that she all  _ready_  sounded so much better from how she'd been just a minute ago. Raoul was truly was a wonder...

"I mean, think about it: what if I wanted you to carry an item of mine that  _I_  loved, but someone else came along beseeching you to hold onto a priceless heirloom for them? Surely you couldn't put my needs first then, could you?

"Think of how awful it would be if you hurt something great like that of someone else's, all just for little old me. You'd ruin any chance you might have had at becoming friends with them completely, then!"

It was only after the sometimes-singer finished her little tirade—feeling quite pleased with herself, actually—that she realized that Raoul actually hadn't let his own binder fall to the ground in the slightest.

Instead, he was somehow balancing it against his knee and foot….

Would wonders ever cease? Christine wondered, rolling her eyes at Raoul, and resisting the urge to titter. And would he  _ever_  stop proving to her each and everyday that he was her own personal Superman or something close to it?

And, in fact, giggling now, for the absurdity of the situation—as Christine leaned down to retrieve Raoul's binder for him, while he held onto her own books for her—Christine tried to decide whether or not she should be irritated that he seemed to have the toes meant for dance that  _she'd_ never been able to reach, or happy for it.

But instead of either of those emotions, Christine settled for something else:

"Raoul, you idiot, if you're not careful, you might break your foot with that heavy thing! And then where would we be? I all ready have to do your experiments in science. But I have a hard time seeing you even  _attempt_  to hobble over to our lab table on crutches.

"Who will write our results down then, I ask you? I mean, after a fracture, someone as wimpy as you would probably be on bed rest for  _weeks_ , and then we'd really be up a creak without a paddle. And I really doubt you'd have your Polyatomic Sheet in the hospital for me to come and copy, don't you?"

Apparently her teasing hadn't had the intended result at all, Christine noticed with a frown.

Because instead of being upset with her at all—something Christine had kind of been hoping to see, because most of the time his 'anger' at her would only make bunny slippers run for cover—Raoul easily saw through her intentions, and once again brought her closer to him.

And using just one hand this time, he ended up pulling Christine towards the side of the hall, so that the duck sellers wouldn't run into her as they quickly began running to go get their own lunch.

"You're completely right, Christine," Raoul replied to her good-naturedly, but with something up his sleeve, Christine could tell marginally.

"And even if I  _did_  bring it with me, the nurse might throw it away thinking it was junk, anyway. Now,  _I_  could always call dear teacher to get another one for myself, were that to happen—as I, unlike  _some_ people I could mention, can  _always_ remember what Polyatomic Ions are called—but we'd still be going in circles then, too, I fear: much like we are now.

"So why don't you just admit you're trying to one-up me in the banter department—starting when I caught my trapper like a pro—so that we can be done with this all, and move onto class. Eh, Little Lotte?"

Christine suspected that she might have been close to saying a very unfavorable thing to Raoul then and there, but as it happened, she would never end up knowing for sure.

At that precise moment, the bell signaling the end of class sounded, and Christine's moment was lost forever—Raoul, the jerk, guffawing and kissing Christine's head as it happened.

But just as the block changed, Christine found that her mood also did with it.

There really  _was_  no need to be worrying about such silliness now, she knew.

Right now, she just quickly needed to get back to her lunch seat, throw her orange juice bottle away, and begin bolting for class!

And all ready, Christine had completely forgotten about her earlier bad memories about her middle school career, and she now found that she was worried about something else entirely.

"Dang it, Raoul! I just realized why this duck sale thing caught me so completely off-guard! It's because they  _should_ be selling our matchmaker results here now!

"...Or they would've been, if I hadn't missed school yesterday, the day that they were due, huh? But they always keep the unhanded out copies a day later, right?"

Ignoring the confused, yet deeply amused, expression that Raoul was giving her completely, Christine charged over towards the table Raoul had kindly pulled her away from just a few moments ago.

And after having fished through the whole box, she ended up finding the item she'd been searching for at the exact bottom of the cardboard casing.

Swiftly putting the little paper behind Raoul's ear, Christine kissed him there just once, winked at him, and then called to her beau over her shoulder, "Enjoy looking at those results, Raoul! They  _literally_ gave me a score that says I'm 'ninety-nine percent' right for you! Anyway, I've really got to go now, lazy bum. Bye again!"

And so it was that the brunette beauty finally made it to the orange juice bottle she'd earlier left behind

…Only to find that it had been knocked over, and was now spilling yellow, orange-ish liquid everywhere.

Also, Mrs. Golding had kindly set to mopping it up for her: something that Christine happily joined in with, as she didn't want to leave the Mrs. completely defenseless.

Christine was pretty sure that she'd end up writing a pass for her, anyway.

And as she moved the rag that had just been given to her in an odd sort of rhythm—enjoying this small break from the usual patterns of school—Christine suddenly realized that she'd first heard that term, "lazy bum", in the first "Kingdom Hearts" video game.

It that had been playing in a store that Christine had been in once, so then maybe… maybe she really knew more about Raoul's new obsession than she'd actually had any idea about.

…But more on that later, Christine rightly decided!

Putting some Pledge over the spill that she herself might have made, Christine made sure that it ended up looking squeaky clean.

...

Heading towards her shared chemistry class with Raoul, Christine knew that she had to be careful to not draw any unnecessary attention to herself.

She was all ready late for the period, and though she did have a pass, it wouldn't have done to make a spectacle of herself, and therefore have Mrs. Hertz getting mad at her...

Christine, however, for Raoul to still be wearing the piece of paper she'd stuck behind his ear proudly.

And as she saw such a thing, it was all that Christine could do to keep from snorting in laughter or from falling to the floor in her hysterics.

Motioning for him to put the dumb thing in his trapper all ready, Christine—only after showing her excuse to the apparent substitute teacher—swiftly got to her seat beside Raoul.

And as he seemed to be doing nothing but holding her questionnaire results in his hands, Christine then chose to take the initiative herself, and thus she pulled the paper that "marked their love" right out of the patron of art's hands before he could even blink.

And as Christine set to folding the little bit of construction paper into different origami shapes, she had no choice but to see that the class was seemingly just watching a movie today.

As much as Christine had teased Raoul about it earlier, she  _liked_  doing experiments.

And though Christine knew it was hardly fair to expect  _every_  substitute teacher who walked through the door to be a chemistry major, she was still sad to know that they wouldn't be making popcorn of the Bunsen burner, after all.

Instead, the class was to just sit quietly and watch "MythBusters", but a lot of them were secretly working on their homework from the previous night (as the sub had yet to ask for it), it seemed.

Christine was half-tempted to do the same thing herself, actually—and so chewing on her pencil, she mulled it over—but she supposed she liked this particular TV show enough to actually watch it.

And this "Punkin Chunkin" thing did seem pretty interesting.

And as it was, Christine was almost tempted to ask Raoul if he'd be interested in trying to do the same thing with her, once she got home, as he always seemed more than willing to give her crazy whims a chance.

And when he reached over towards her desk, placing a palm atop her own, Christine could tell that he must've read her well, and was now telling her, that "yes: he wouldn't mind at all".

Suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed for her easy win, Christine told Raoul that he was the best—with much heart and emphasis in her words—before she returned to watching the video they'd been instructed to.

Meanwhile, Christine also finished in turning her Valentine's matchmaker into a miniature paper airplane, before softly squishing it into Raoul's trapper before he could get in trouble for having it.

She noticed that he was particularly grinning at her attempts at subterfuge, and perhaps it was for that reason  _that_ he chose to kindly squeeze her hand: something that Christine was only too eager to return the favor of.

And then, just like that, their seventh period class was over, and Christine then bid her boyfriend adieu—preparing to get her last two classes of the day over with, she and Raoul could spend the rest of the day together.

What Christine hadn't been expecting, however, was to be whisked away by the school secretary, as she walked in the hallways, as apparently they needed her for something?

And naturally, as Christine made her way down the corridor that was far too old looking, brown, and dingy for her liking, she began to panic.

She'd only very rarely gotten into trouble before, that was true, but since she and Raoul had been skirting around the rules today, what if they wanted to expel her now, or something?

And inside the actual office space that Christine had only just made it to—that was as blue as the vastest ocean, it seemed—she sat down in the last cushioned chair presented to her, and waited for the principal to get done with the two people ahead of her, so that she could finally know just what this summoning was about.

And what it turned out to be was actually something quite simple—and something Christine was happy about, if she was being honest with herself.

Apparently, her gym teacher had said that she'd been trying extra hard in P.E. class lately (which was true, she supposed), and now they were looking to reward her with some sort of certificate for it!

So not fighting the fanfare much at all, as this was  _very_  good news (even if she got nervous easily, and didn't want to go over and take a picture with the principal, like she was being instructed to), Christine quickly complied to shaking the principal's hand—quite awkwardly, she might add—and then she received the added bonus of being told she could leave school an hour early for her good behavior.

She needn't been told twice.

Skipping out of the school building as fast as she was able, Christine headed out towards the lot where school buses were all ready gathering, and tried to decide whether or not she should wait for Raoul to get done with class, or to just walk home.

She would have to call him to let him know not to look for her, were she to leave early, but it was something she was more than willing to do in order to enjoy her extra hour of free time.

It all ended up being a moot point, though, when Christine saw that Raoul was amazingly all ready outside  _himself_ , and remembered that he only ever had two study halls at the end of the day.

Smacking her forehead, for forgetting that Raoul usually  _could_ leave the school early—he just usually didn't, because he was good enough to wait for her–Christine then lithely snuck up on him, grabbed onto his arm, and exclaimed as he shrieked in surprise, "Guess who just got the privilege to go home early, stranger?!"

And it was a testament of how well they knew each other, that Raoul's immediate guess to this was, "Mrs. Zen really appreciated you still trying in gym with a broken arm, didn't she?"

And to this, Christine could only nod and laugh. It was a somewhat absurd thing to be noticed for, she knew (it was even something that had all ready long past), but right now she couldn't even care about that the slightest: it felt nice to have her teachers noticing her, and giving her something she'd never thought to hope for.

"Do you really want to leave now, though, Little Lotte? Isn't there something else you might like to do before we leave?" Raoul began questioning Christine, just as she'd begun leading him away and towards his car.

Pivoting on the spot, and shaking her head towards the sky, Christine then turned to Raoul with suspicion rooted in her eyes. "This is you still wanting to go out onto the roof, isn't it? Raoul! Students aren't allowed there! I mean, we're in everyone's good graces right  _now_ , but do you really want to ruin it wi-"

"Ahh, Christine! Come now: what's life without a little adventure!"

And in the end, after Raoul's no doubt meant to be inspiring words, Christine found that she had—against her better judgment—fallowed him up onto the roof.

And while looking at the buses from  _this_  vantage point especially served to freak her out, Christine found that it at least felt nice to be held in Raoul's arms up here—almost like they were getting ready to have a roof picnic, or something.

Still… Christine couldn't let their nice little moment end just like that. The goofball should have known she was usually afraid of heights, after all.

And so, Christine attempted to poke fun at him once again. "Raoul, you're such a weeaboo. Do you know that? You're not even Japanese, and yet you love attempting Japanese customs yourself.

"And I swear if you start trying to nuzzle my face, like two anime characters I once saw did, I'm out of here."

Raoul's response to this, of course, was to chortle, and to Christine closer in his arms—attempting to do just as she had said, it seemed, but failing at it miserably, when the two of them just ended up crashing heads into each other: something quite painful.

But even so, Christine took it all in stride, and massaged the injured part of her face with her own laugh.

Raoul, meanwhile, took the moment to try and apologize profusely.

Leaning into Raoul to get him to stop—and to show him that it wasn't at all necessary—Christine succeeded in brushing Raoul's face with her own, where he had failed it.

And through this action, she showed him that everything really was more than perfectly fine between them.

And though Raoul might not have been able to initiate that kind of contact very well, he did return the nudge simply enough:

And Christine found as he did so, that she felt very much like the sun and the moon coming closer together in the sky; and she honestly preferred it this way.

She and Raoul... they really did complete each other, didn't they?

…Even if a lot of it  _was_  just in goofiness.

Tomorrow, Raoul would come to school early, having realized he'd left his stuff in his locker once again—something Christine would watch on with amusedly.

But for right now? They had this perfect little moment together, where Raoul was  _oh so_ debonair during it.

Christine laughed at the ridiculousness of the entire situation with Raoul: something she hadn't been able to do at all before she'd met him.

So all the light he'd brought her was a beautiful thing indeed, wasn't it?

**Author's Note:**

> I have... no idea where this came from. I really hate high school AUs, and slice of life stories, tbh, and yet...
> 
> This somehow came into fruition when I was trying to figure out how to do stuff for these two characters, and I don't completely hate the result?
> 
> Raoul and Christine need more love, anyway.
> 
> And it IS nice to remind myself that I CAN do simple, cute stories, instead of always doing crazy, convoluted and angsty fics.
> 
> So, yeah: I hope you all enjoyed this fluffy, funny little thing:
> 
> I know I really loved writing it! It was uplifting, which is kind of a rare thing for me, actually!
> 
> Also, that story about "Giry" (Madame Giry, btw, if you were unsure about that) actually happened to me…
> 
> And usually I refrain from personal stuff in my stories, but... I still care about that girl.
> 
> She had some mental issues, and seriously was talking about killing these people for bullying this one boy, before the guidance counselor came over and stopped her.
> 
> Unfortunately, I've lost contact with her, but I hope that she's doing well and better.
> 
> She was a good friend to me, and a strong advocate against bullying, of course... I just really hope she's doing well:/
> 
> And maybe that boy in this was meant to be the Phantom?
> 
> IDK. I didn't really PLAN for it to be him, but I also didn't mean to leave Erik out of this whole thing entirely (even if adding the Phantom would've definitely changed the mood of this fic), so... I guess it's up to you guys' choice, then.
> 
> Oh, and selling weird little ducks for Valentine's Day—and also filling out a questionnaire, and then being "matched" with the people who got similar results as you—really is a thing that schools do.
> 
> I also totally wish my high school had done some of the cool stuff in this fic. LOL.
> 
> Anyway, I've rambled enough.
> 
> Thanks a bunch for reading and stuff, guys! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> And maybe expect more Phantom stuff from me in the future;)


End file.
